Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation

[Mileage Psycho]

It's a dumpster fire.

 

Quote

 

Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation

WASHINGTON — President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo that Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting.

“I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey, according to the memo.

The existence of Mr. Trump’s request is the clearest evidence that the president has tried to directly influence the Justice Department and F.B.I. investigation into links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia.

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Mr. Comey wrote the memo detailing his conversation with the president immediately after the meeting, which took place the day after Mr. Flynn resigned, according to two people who read the memo. The memo was part of a paper trail Mr. Comey created documenting what he perceived as the president’s improper efforts to influence an ongoing investigation. An F.B.I. agent’s contemporaneous notes are widely held up in court as credible evidence of conversations.

Mr. Comey shared the existence of the memo with senior F.B.I. officials and close associates. The New York Times has not viewed a copy of the memo, which is unclassified, but one of Mr. Comey’s associates read parts of the memo to a Times reporter.

“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Comey, according to the memo. “He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go.”

Mr. Trump told Mr. Comey that Mr. Flynn had done nothing wrong, according to the memo.

Mr. Comey did not say anything to Mr. Trump about curtailing the investigation, only replying: “I agree he is a good guy.”

In a statement, the White House denied the version of events in the memo.

“While the president has repeatedly expressed his view that General Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn,” the statement said. “The president has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the president and Mr. Comey.”

In testimony to the Senate last week, the acting F.B.I. director, Andrew G. McCabe, said, “There has been no effort to impede our investigation to date.”

A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment.

Mr. Comey created similar memos — including some that are classified — about every phone call and meeting he had with the president, the two people said. It is unclear whether Mr. Comey told the Justice Department about the conversation or his memos.

Mr. Trump fired Mr. Comey last week. Trump administration officials have provided multiple, conflicting accounts of the reasoning behind Mr. Comey’s dismissal. Mr. Trump said in a television interview that one of the reasons was because he believed “this Russia thing” was a “made-up story.”

The Feb. 14 meeting took place just a day after Mr. Flynn was forced out of his job after it was revealed he had lied to Vice President Mike Pence about the nature of phone conversations he had had with the Russian ambassador to the United States.

Despite the conversation between Mr. Trump and Mr. Comey, the investigation of Mr. Flynn has proceeded. In Virginia, a federal grand jury has issued subpoenas in recent weeks for records related to Mr. Flynn. Part of the Flynn investigation is centered on his financial ties to Russia and Turkey.

Mr. Comey had been in the Oval Office that day with other senior national security officials for a terrorism threat briefing. When the meeting ended, Mr. Trump told those present — including Mr. Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions — to leave the room except for Mr. Comey.

Alone in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump began the discussion by condemning leaks to the news media, saying that Mr. Comey should consider putting reporters in prison for publishing classified information, according to one of Mr. Comey’s associates. 

Mr. Trump then turned the discussion to Mr. Flynn.

After writing up a memo that outlined the meeting, Mr. Comey shared it with senior F.B.I. officials. Mr. Comey and his aides perceived Mr. Trump’s comments as an effort to influence the investigation, but they decided that they would try to keep the conversation secret — even from the F.B.I. agents working on the Russia investigation — so the details of the conversation would not affect the investigation.

Mr. Comey was known among his closest advisers to document conversations that he believed would later be called into question, according to two former confidants, who said Mr. Comey was uncomfortable at times with his relationship with Mr. Trump.

Mr. Comey’s recollection has been bolstered in the past by F.B.I. notes. In 2007, he told Congress about a now-famous showdown with senior White House officials over the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. The White House disputed Mr. Comey’s account, but the F.B.I. director at the time, Robert S. Mueller III, kept notes that backed up Mr. Comey’s story.

The White House has repeatedly crossed lines that other administrations have been reluctant to cross when discussing politically charged criminal investigations. Mr. Trump has disparaged the ongoing F.B.I. investigation as a hoax and called for an investigation into his political rivals. His representatives have taken the unusual step of declaring no need for a special prosecutor to investigate the president’s associates.

The Oval Office meeting occurred a little more than two weeks after Mr. Trump summoned Mr. Comey to the White House for a lengthy, one-on-one dinner in the residence. At that dinner, on Jan. 27, Mr. Trump asked Mr. Comey at least two times for a pledge of loyalty — which Mr. Comey declined, according to one of Mr. Comey’s associates.

In a Twitter posting on Friday, Mr. Trump said that “James Comey better hope that there are no ‘tapes’ of our conversations before he starts leaking to the press!”

After the meeting, Mr. Comey’s associates did not believe there was any way to corroborate Mr. Trump’s statements. But Mr. Trump’s suggestion last week that he was keeping tapes has made them wonder whether there are tapes that back up Mr. Comey’s account.

The Jan. 27 dinner came a day after White House officials learned that Mr. Flynn had been interviewed by F.B.I. agents about his phone calls with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak. On Jan. 26, Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates told the White House counsel about the interview, and said Mr. Flynn could be subject to blackmail by the Russians because they knew he had lied about the content of the calls.

Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman contributed reporting.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/comey-memo-says-trump-asked-him-to-end-flynn-investigation/ar-BBBdmgu

 

 

[f7ben]

Nope ....its a Trumpster Fire !!!!!!!!!11111111

[ICEMAN!]

Nah, it's cool

Zamboron and momoretard say it's all good

[Mileage Psycho]

1 minute ago, ICEMAN! said:

Nah, it's cool

Zamboron and momoretard say it's all good

Momo and MN Momo, they have have to be blood  

[Rod]

He's the president right. He can do what he wants 

 

 

[Mileage Psycho]

Comey or Trump, who are you going to believe?

[SnowRider]

Trump's an honest fella.....  

[SnowRider]

11 hours ago, SnowRider said:

 But Rich....  

Dump is getting his ass handed to him:

Sources: Comey wrote in memo that Trump asked to end Flynn investigation

 

(CNN)Former FBI Director James Comey wrote in a memo that President Donald Trump asked him to end the investigation of national security adviser Michael Flynn, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Comey was so appalled by the request that he wanted to document it, sources said. Comey shared it with FBI senior officials, according to sources. 

"I hope you can let this go," Comey wrote, quoting the President. CNN has not viewed the memo but sources described it to CNN.

The memo is the clearest sign yet of potential interference by Trump with the investigation into whether members of his campaign team colluded with Russian officials.

"Three words: obstruction of justice," said CNN's senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on Tuesday. "Telling the FBI director to close down an investigation of your senior campaign adviser for his activities during your campaign for president, if that's true, that is obstruction of justice." 

" 'Close it down' is an instruction to stop investigating President Trump's campaign. Richard Nixon was impeached in 1974 for telling the FBI to stop an investigation of his campaign. That's what Watergate was," Toobin added. "If (Comey's) telling the truth, I don't know how anyone can see this comment as anything but obstruction of justice." 

Writing the memo was "not out of character," especially if he was concerned about the legality or moral issues, according to a former Justice Department official.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/16/politics/trump-james-comey-memo/index.html

Good thing Dump was elected to clean up Washington  

[JEFF]

Sounds like he's prepping for a book deal...

[Angry ginger]

Of course he asked that. He would be an idiot if he didn't.  What he should have done was fire him the week after inauguration

[Highmark]

If this is true its not surprising what most of you are missing.  Read the following real slow word by word.  I'll even highlight the key word for you idiots.   

Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation

[Mainecat]

1 hour ago, Highmark said:

If this is true its not surprising what most of you are missing.  Read the following real slow word by word.  I'll even highlight the key word for you idiots.   

Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation

When do you give up on Trump?

[Highmark]

1 minute ago, Mainecat said:

When do you give up on Trump?

When he does something illegal or is too fiscally irresponsible.  

Did you give up Bill Clinton after he perjured himself and clearly obstructed justice?   Be honest now.  

[Carlos Danger]

29 minutes ago, Mainecat said:

When do you give up on Trump?

When do you give up on the media and the circus they have created?  What happened to the boy who cried wolf one to many times?

[SSFB]

1 hour ago, Highmark said:

If this is true its not surprising what most of you are missing.  Read the following real slow word by word.  I'll even highlight the key word for you idiots.   

Comey Memo Says Trump Asked Him to End Flynn Investigation

So you think that it being a request makes it OK?

[Snoslinger]

 fucking highmark

 

[Highmark]

8 minutes ago, SSFB said:

So you think that it being a request makes it OK?

Depends a bit on how its done but Absolutely. 

Could have went like this.  

"Jim if General Flynn did nothing illegal I'd like to see you move on from the Flynn investigation.  The man served his country 33 years with integrity.  I would prefer to not completely destroy his reputation if all he did wrong was lie to the Vice President."     

Why would it be wrong to ask the FBI director to focus resources on something legitimate.  They've been investigating Flynn for a long time and there hasn't been one piece of evidence shown that he acted illegally.  

Nothing wrong with the POTUS asking.....nothing wrong the Comey refusing.  

We hear the POTUS say all the time.   I'm directing the full resources of the Justice Department....so on and so forth.   Obama requested the FBI do things many times.  

Edited May 17, 2017 by Highmark

[SSFB]

7 minutes ago, Highmark said:

Depends a bit on how its done but Absolutely. 

Could have went like this.  

"Jim if General Flynn did nothing illegal I'd like to see you move on from the Flynn investigation.  The man served his country 33 years with integrity.  I would prefer to not completely destroy his reputation if all he did wrong was lie to the Vice President."     

Why would it be wrong to ask the FBI director to focus resources on something legitimate.  They've been investigating Flynn for a long time and there hasn't been one piece of evidence shown that he acted illegally.  

Nothing wrong with the POTUS asking.....nothing wrong the Comey refusing.  

We hear the POTUS say all the time.   I'm directing the full resources of the Justice Department....so on and so forth.   Obama requested the FBI do things many times.  

And how would we know that Flynn did nothing illegal unless we let the people who are tasked with investigating, do their investigation until they're confident nothing illegal has been done?

It would be wrong to ask that because Trump is in no position to decide whether or not the investigation should proceed.

As far as Obama's requests, asking the FBI to do something isn't nearly the same as a President asking the FBI NOT to do something in regards to someone who was on that same President's staff. 

[Rigid1]

4 minutes ago, Highmark said:

Depends a bit on how its done but Absolutely. 

Could have went like this.  

"Jim if General Flynn did nothing illegal I'd like to see you move on from the Flynn investigation.  The man served his country 33 years with integrity.  I would prefer to not completely destroy his reputation if all he did wrong was lie to the Vice President."     

Why would it be wrong to ask the FBI director to focus resources on something legitimate.  They've been investigating Flynn for a long time and there hasn't been one piece of evidence shown that he acted illegally.  

Nothing wrong with the POTUS asking.....nothing wrong the Comey refusing.  

We hear the POTUS say all the time.   I'm directing the full resources of the Justice Department....so on and so forth.   Obama requested the FBI do things many times.  

This   ....

The old "sky is falling" shit is getting real fucking old..libs always thinking the worst, to them Trump was like... I'll kill you, your family and your families family if you dont stop investigating Flynn.

But what you typed in the bold and what I have read, seems like thats how it went down. 

[Highmark]

Just now, SSFB said:

And how would we know that Flynn did nothing illegal unless we let the people who are tasked with investigating, do their investigation until they're confident nothing illegal has been done?

It would be wrong to ask that because Trump is in no position to decide whether or not the investigation should proceed.

As far as Obama's requests, asking the FBI to do something isn't nearly the same as a President asking the FBI NOT to do something in regards to someone who was on that same President's staff. 

Again, Trump can ask all he wants and Comey can refuse all he wants.   Asking is not obstruction of justice.  

[SSFB]

Just now, Highmark said:

Again, Trump can ask all he wants and Comey can refuse all he wants.   Asking is not obstruction of justice.  

It may not be, but it shows exactly what many of us already know, Trump has no respect for anything or anyone. 

[Highmark]

3 minutes ago, SSFB said:

It may not be, but it shows exactly what many of us already know, Trump has no respect for anything or anyone. 

If Trump said to Comey stop the investigation or its your job then I will call for his impeachment myself.   Nobody is making that claim.  

[SSFB]

1 minute ago, Highmark said:

If Trump said to Comey stop the investigation or its your job then I will call for his impeachment myself.   Nobody is making that claim.  

Instead he did it in the way all politicians would(if they were going to do so), by "asking". 

[Carlos Danger]

Remember the tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and Lynch? Obstruction of Justice or does it depend on how Bill worded his thinly veiled threats?

[SSFB]

5 minutes ago, Carlos Danger said:

Remember the tarmac meeting between Bill Clinton and Lynch? Obstruction of Justice or does it depend on how Bill worded his thinly veiled threats?

Actually, I was going to bring that up. 

I bet Bill just "asked" too. 

Bill could go to jail, that'd be fine with me.